Osc is actually obsolete. I refused to believe that the software came without any templates.
The concept of tableless is far from osc.
¿Templates? ¿Layouts? ¿What is that?
After some work I installed STS (a module for osc to use templates), but OSC needs a serious rework.
The version 3 continues on Alpha stage since I remember.
After some bad experiences, I tried with Zen Cart. It suprised me that Zen Cart and Osc were actually so similar. Later I find out that they shared the same core code, BUT there is a lot of work in Zen Cart. Zen Cart is superior in many ways to osc. I gave up and I'm giving a chance to ZC.

This is probably the worst piece of crap i have ever used... The code architecture is more than terrible, it is torture for whoever has to touch it (everyone who wants to extend the core functionality via plugins).
The only real problem is, that there is no real alternative with such a big community behind it.
soooo its a dilemma, i really dont understand why people fork this piece of junk (like zencart, xtcommerce and all the other copies) instead of writing a clean plugin-friendly shopping cart.

osCommerce has been dead for many years. Do yourself and your company a favor, do not use osCommerce. Pick a solution from this decade.

osCommerce takes a great deal of PHP work just to get it to the point where many of the other open source ecommerce packages start. While the community is active, the actual core development is almost non-existent (two+ years between recent releases). In 2000 when it was originally release I bet this was the best thing since sliced bread, and would have been more than acceptable as an ecommerce solution, but as of 2009 this beast needs to be shot and put out of its misery. The internet, eCommerce, and the average web shopper have come a long distance in the last nine years. Of course if you are a developer then use osCommerce, job security.

osCommerce is simply great. We have been working on this for 3 years. It gave us a lot - we got lots business opportunities. Our big thanks to osCommerce founder and contributors. It has changed our business - we are really grateful.

Unless you are a top notch PHP programmer, Oscommerce is the worst shopping cart ever. Definitely not for newbies or non-programmers. Of course oscommerce lovers would argue on this. Anyway ask any e-commerce owners and they would definitely tell you the best shopping cart is the one which is highly customizable and highly robust but all I can say is that oscommerce isn't one (again unless you are a PHP freak). The addons and modules require you to strip the bloody scripts apart all over the shop. Even the forum support sucks with thousands of unresolved issues. My advise if you are not in a hurry to set up an e-commerce store, go learn PHP or buy a well-designed shopping cart script or sadly pay someone to design a shopping cart for you. If budget is your biggest constraint and your do not mind a simple mediocre layout with easy adjustments and pre-installed configurations, which is "as it is", try Prestashop or Opencart. But then again both support and contributions are limited. It's your call.

Sorry but oscommerce is rubbish...
Don't get me wrong, if you want a simple shop set up, it is perfect, but if you need to customize it (modules ecc..) then you will end up crying and yelling because the code architecture is terrible (to install an addon you cannot simply push install to auto-install it, you often need to perform core-hacks wich is c.a.t.a.s.t.r.o.p.h.i.c.a.l. for any cms.. (i recommend strongly a complete rewrite wich adopts strong conventions and mvc)..

osCommerce has been around for years, and it's a well known e-commerce CMS. osCommerce allows you to easily add products and categories, manage orders, add payment and shipping modules, and more.

The one current drawback to osCommerce is its primitive look and feel. Also not to mention you need to do quite a bit of manual editing with the design and layout.

However, the new osCommerce v. 3 has some improvements for the design and layout, such as template selector, and also ability to select the layout of boxes.

I believe that they will make osCommerce more modern in a newer release version.

Why is this the only viable open source ecommerce solution? Most others including cp, X, osC, Freeway and Zencart are derivatives of osCommerce often with just a template layer added. Take a look at the code, and just imagine trying to maintain it. All you need to add is meatballs and sauce and you would have a great dinner! Seriously the code is terrible. It is about time for a new, engineered, open source PHP ecommerce platform. Any takers?

We have been using osCommerce and its different 'flavors' since May 2002. Have worked with over 750 online stores since then. Online stores of our customers vary from home-based crafts to international companies with multimillion turnover. And it looks like osCommerce is one of the best Ecommerce solutions for such small to medium businesses! The flexibility is the key of course.

Ive installed oscommerce in 2 websites for my customers but when trying to modify the application I noticed it was not as simple as I thought it would be. Thanks! Cristina

I started off making my site with osCommerce. It certainly is easy to install and get a good working site. Easy to design compared to others. However, the features availabl weren't as robust as ZenCart. I opted for ZenCart in the end and am very happy with it.

We have put much consideration into re-building our commerce site using osCommerce due to the flexibility is offers in customization. We are not using it now and I am paying the price in conversions with the ability to tailor things as I see fit. We are going to make the move and are very exciting. Thanks to all that support this board, it is a wealth of great information and has been incredibly helpful to us in making the right choice for the future. Keep up the great work!!!

Have been using oscommerce for several years now. Easy to install and there's a great community. Admin interface is intuitive and there are lots of useful features. There are lots of modules available, but the mods can be difficult to install as you need to modify the PHP, sometimes extensively. The more mods you've installed, the more difficult it becomes of course. Upgrades can also be a nightmare as again you have to get into the PHP. I haven't had any performance issues on the servers I use.

its very complex and usefull e commerce script.it has got a lot of hacks and information. But script code is very complex .if you want to change and adapt this script.its very hard for you.